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'I am worried Prasa has been in a bad shape for a long time' - Nzimande

Nzimande said the current board was dealing with piles of contracts, some genuine, while others were not. Payments were being requested for some contracts. But Nzimande said he had instructed the board to challenge by the courts contracts that they felt should be challenged.

He has urged the new board to study reports on the entity by forensic investigators, and take action.

"One of the things I found when I came [was that] the board did not adequately defend Prasa for cases that came before it. It is one of the reasons I saw it as an ATM.

"I could not understand people make claims and [the board was] not disputing them.”

Rocky start

Earlier, the meeting got off to a rocky start over a disagreement about the agenda.

Prasa’s board was meant to table the annual report for 2016/17. The annual report is already eight months late.

However, chair of the committee, Dikeledi Magadzi, informed MPs and the minister that Prasa would only brief after lunch. Nzimande expressed his disappointment, saying that he would have preferred to engage with the Prasa board too, and would not be able to attend their briefing in the afternoon, as he had to table the department’s budget vote with the National Council of Provinces.

Other MPs also took issue with the change, but Magadzi said she did not have time for "tantrums". The meeting proceeded with a new agenda as the Prasa board would only arrive in the afternoon.